the country thought obama was a better debater. i suspect, given those expectations, romney will have over-performed. >> woodruff: do you think it was a deliberate strategy on the part of the president to not be more aggressive or he was trying to hue to the format, the economy and health care and the role of government? what do you-- >> my impression, he has sessions with columnists where he defends his policies. that's what he sounds like. and so i don't think it was anything different than he has been talkin talk within the reaf the white house for the past four years. >> it was too policy abstract, the president's presentation was. and, you know, the few times he did put a human face on it, as i mentioned, it was better. what i found interesting was who became the innocence by association figures? tip o'neill and ronald reagan were invoked by both sides. ( laughter ). and donald trump became the punching bag of small business. i just eye found that interesting. and of course bill clt was embraced not simply by the president but